I before e, except after c is a mnemonic used to help elementary school students remember how to spell certain words in the English language. It means that, in words where i and e fall together, the order is ie, except directly following c, when it is ei. For example:

• ie in words like siege, friend
• ei in words like ceiling, receive

Unfortunately, in its short form the rule has many common exceptions, e.g.:

• ie after c: science, sufficient, agencies, financier
• ei not after c: their, foreign, being, neither, weird, ''vein

The word oneiromancies (studies into the meaning of dreams) breaks the rule twice, in both ways. The words deficiencies, efficiencies, sufficiencies, zeitgeist and einsteinium break the rule twice in the same way (though the last two are of foreign origin).

An augmented American version is:

i before e

except after c

or when sounding like a

as in neighbor and weigh

which excludes some of the exceptions but still fails to correctly handle many others.

A British version is:

when the sound is ee

it's i before e

except after c

which excludes most exceptions, as well as excluding some words (e.g. friend) which are correctly handled by the American version. The most frequent everyday failures of the British form of the rule are seize, caffeine, protein and, for those who pronounce the initial vowel sound ee, either and neither. Weird and weir are often listed as exceptions but this is contentious as the 'i' is detectable in the pronunciation. Words with a plural ending in -cies (agencies, policies etc.) are exceptions to those who pronounce the ending eez, but not to those who pronounce it with a shorter iz sound.

Few common words have the spelling handled by the rule: verbs ending and their derivatives (perceive, deceit, transceiver, receipts, etc), and ceiling. Many words spelled with are pronounced ee () in America but not Britain (e.g. sheikh, leisure, either have , , respectively). In these cases, the British pronunciation is a corollary of the British rule (i.e. when spelt , the pronunciation cannot be ).

Exceptions

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albeit ancient atheism beige being caffeine casein cleidoic codeine conscience counterfeit deficient (deficiencies) deify deity deign deil disseize dreidel efficient eider eight either feign feint feisty financier foreign forfeit freight geisha glacier gleization gneiss greige greisen heifer heigh-ho height heinous heir heist inveigle kaleidoscope keister leisure leitmotiv monteith neigh neighbor neither obeisance omniscient onomatopoeia peignoir phenolphthalein phthalein prescient proficient protein reign reimburse rein reinforce reinstate reveille science seeing seiche seidel seine seismic seize seizin sheik sheila society sovereign specie species sufficient surfeit surveillance teiid their veil vein weight weir weird

External links

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• alt.english.usage: A British defence of the mnemonic from the newsgroup's FAQ
• alt.english.usage: An American critique of the mnemonic
• "i before e" Spelling Rule, Examples, & Quiz
• Rule, and a list of exceptions, and an amended rule

English spelling | Mnemonics